Dates: 01 January 2019 to 31 December 2023
Area: Five Districts of Pursat Province.
Primary Beneficiaries: over 2,300 Producer Group members; Producer Group leaders; other individual producers; other stakeholders in the value chain including private sector buyers and wholesalers; and people trained as Community Horticultural Agents (CHA).
Budget: TOTAL NZD 2,993,273
Donors: New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) and ADRA New Zealand

ADRA is implementing the Sustainable Produce to Market Value Chain Enhancement (Pro-Market) project to address poverty in Cambodia shown in ranking 143 of 188 countries globally in 2016. This project aims to increase net income from the sale of produce, and grow the rural economy; reduce poverty, and improve household resilience through a market led and value chain approach.

Challenges in Pursat include weak value chain coordination in the fresh fruit and vegetable sector, producers lacking knowledge and skills (technical, agribusiness and marketing) and Producer Groups which are weak, with limited benefits to their members. There is also competition from produce imported from Thailand, Vietnam, and other provinces, including a range of fresh vegetables and fruit. Volume and consistency of produce is needed to compete, and the project is supporting marketing collectively to address this such as through Producer Groups -formal and informal).

The Project’s definition of Producer Groups is ‘formal Agricultural Cooperatives (AC), unregistered Farmer Associations, and/or smaller informal Farmer Groups and clusters of farmers’. Producer Groups deliver a range of other benefits to their members. Pursat producers are being supporting to diversify and focus on high value varieties to meet market requirements, improve productivity and quality, and add value.

The Pro-Market project works in five of six districts of Pursat where most currently registered or known Producer Groups are located. Almost all produce (fruit and vegetables) is currently sold in Pursat by individual producers, with little or no negotiation with private sector buyers to increase price. Thus the project is Producer Groups to sell ‘collectively’ to a buyer with sales pre-negotiated and more regular.

The Pro-Market project is developing strong value chains for selected crops in Pursat and improve the effectiveness of targeted Producer Groups. The Project supports Producer Groups and retailers to establish ‘collective’ agreements that leads to more consistent/increased product sales allowing for planning and more efficient production. Producer Group members, other producers and households are being trained in production, post-harvest and value adding, sustainable soil and water management, agribusiness and marketing skills. Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) standards are being encouraged to ensure food is ‘safe’ and sustainably grown.

The Pro-Market project directly benefits at least 40 Producer Groups and over 2,300 Producer Group members; Producer Group leaders; other individual producers; other stakeholders in the value chain including private sector buyers and wholesalers; and people trained as Community Horticultural Agents (CHA). Around 9,200 households of Producer group members also directly benefit from training, and/or indirectly benefit from increased household income, produce diversity and food safety. At least 900 other farmers in the community indirectly benefit by joining Producer Groups or benefiting from the interactions with them.

 The intended results of the Project are included in the following table:

ADRA is implementing the proposed Project in partnership with iDE and in collaboration with the Pursat Provincial Department of Agriculture (PDA). Massey University is contributing through a study of Producer Groups. Two key governance committees include the Cambodia-based Project Coordination Committee, and a New Zealand-based ADRA NZ Programme Committee. A Pro-Market Management Team provides operational management oversight, making the day-to-day implementation decisions.

The Results Framework is used for monitoring and measuring results. Baseline data is collected at the start of the Project with additional data collected when new Producer Groups are selected and individual value chains strengthened. A mid-term review will be completed by the end of year three, and an end-of-Project review will inform the Completion Report. A gender analysis is being completed as part of a Producer Group study. Pro-Market is using the LogAlto collaborative web-based software for monitoring which organises data collected by mobile phone and uses analytics functionality to report against indicators. Pro-Market is also measuring change that is tangible and quantitative, as well as less tangible (qualitative) changes.